White Paper: Practical Antenna Choices For 802.15.4 Enabled Consumer Electronics

By Doug Shade, Freescale Semiconductor

Since being ratified in 2003, the wireless communications standard IEEE 802.15.4 has enjoyed a steadily increasing uptake rate. New and inventive industrial, medical, security and other specialized applications continue to be regularly introduced, employing either open or proprietary protocols riding atop the lower level network layers prescribed by the standard. With mature tools, cost reduced silicon and significant design momentum behind the standard, 802.15.4 enabled products are now set to flood the consumer market space. ZigBee RF4CE is the primary protocol that will power this next wave of deployment.